Take each chance like your life depends on it
by icewulf
Summary: Rowan Frost. Just another teenage patient, suffering from a trauma no-one, especially not a child should have to witness, is intrigued to see the mysterious Mr. Tall at the Asylum. especially after her first glimpse of him in the storm two days ago...
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

It wasn't meant to be this way. LIFE wasn't meant to cause so much pain, was it? As I sat in my room, in the attic of the asylum, I couldn't help but wish for something more. I wanted a real life. The ones I had been allowed to watch on television sometimes. When I wasn't trapped in this box-like room.

I took a deep breath, moving to the window. Looking out at the small street below, you would have thought that the world had stopped still, if not for the slow patter of raindrops. How much I would have given to be out there. To feel the wind on my face, like the trees did as it pushed them from side to side. Or to feel the cold chill of the rain on my outstretched arms.

I rushed to the door, banging.

"Hey, hey over there! Please, let me out. I want to go outside! Please!" I yelled through the tiny window. They'd stopped even bothering getting up now. I heard them yell from down the corridor,

"Shut up Frost! CSI is on for Christ's sake! Can't you be quiet for one frickin' night?" God, I hated Tony. He'd stopped caring a long time ago. Actually scratch that, I doubt he ever cared at all.

I turned back to the window. At least I had one, I told myself. I should consider myself lucky.

I don't know how long I stood there, tracing patterns of moisture on the windows like on a drawing board, watching the storm build up to its climax. I watched the flash of the first lightning dash the sky, followed by the thunder clap which shook the roof. I couldn't actually see much of the sky, but the patterns it made on the street were fantastic. It was as if someone were turning the lights on in short bursts.

The next flash came shortly afterwards. A shadow unknown was cast onto the street and I caught a glimmer of a man before the darkness reclaimed him.

I waited impatiently for the next to show me more of the stranger, but was bitterly disappointed when he was gone.

But I'll never forget that face. Sincere, and calm in the storm, with the deepest eyes I had ever seen. The same eyes I had caught looking straight at me in the dark...


	2. Chapter 2: The Rescue

The next day came by slowly, like even the sun was reluctant to wake up. I lay in my bed, tracing the cracks in my ceiling and waiting for the orderly to come. He left me still last. Again. He knew damn well I couldn't get out of the room until he had come; that's exactly why he did it. He smirked at my discomfort as he wheeled me out of the room and into the main lounge. Then leaving me in front of the TV, he left, ignoring my request to go outside.

I was never allowed outside. Well, not very often anyway. I held onto the memory of each time like a precious possession. I reached down and undid the wheel locks, pushing round the lounge until I found Mavis.

Mavis was perhaps the sweetest nurse I had ever met in my life here. She had been there since the beginning, and she was the only one who ever actually **wanted** to engage in a conversation. Today she was sat with Mr. Murphy, an old army veteran who had to be spoon fed each day under supervision, just in case he choked from the hole in the side of his neck; an old wound from his war days. I pulled up next to the table.

"Good Morning Little Miss," Mavis said, picking up another spoonful of porridge, "How did you sleep last night? With the storm and what not?"

That was another reason I liked Mavis, she was actually concerned about her patients' welfare.

"It was brilliant Miss Rose! I sat up and watched the lightning! But the thunder kept making me jump..." I added. I pulled my diary from my pocket and showed her the drawing I had done of the street outside. (After a while, she had convinced the management to give me some crayons)

"Well, now isn't that something!" she said, a big smile spreading across her face, "Your getting real good at these now aren't you, flicking through the images."

"Miss Green?" I turned my chair slightly to look round. The resident doctor waved me over with a smile. I pushed away from the table, grimacing slightly. I never liked doctors. It was nothing personal mind; it was just the smell of hospitals and stuff made me gag.

"Now you be good little girl, and you can have a special treat later." Mavis called after me, waving.

I reaching the doctor, and he took over pushing the chair, steering me out into the corridor, right to the end of the building where his office was.

"How are we feeling today, Rowan?" he said, taking up his seat at the other side of the desk. He pressed the speaker button on the desk, and called his assistant before he continued. "You can go for your lunch Diane; we're alright here until the afternoon." She just nodded, popped a bubble of chewing gum and walked out. He waited in silence for a minute, watching the door, listening. When he spoke again, he had lowered his voice and spoke in hurried tones.

"Do you trust me Rowan? Because I have a way for you to get out of this place. You need to live girl, and you're going to rot if you stay here much longer." He waited and I nodded nervously, hardly daring to speak. "You don't deserve to stay here, and to be honest girl, you should never have come in the first place. But that was out of your hands. But I'm going to help you. A man is coming tonight; a man who will take you far away from here. I want you to get what stuff you have, and put them in this bag – he indicated, passing a small over-one-shoulder rugsack to me- and wait until I come for you. We'll only have one chance to get you out of here." He reached across the table, holding my hand gently. I just smiled, the corners of my mouth pulling up slightly.

"I'm going to go outside?" I said, mainly to myself. He just nodded, and we stayed in peaceful silence for a while, before he wheeled me back to the lounge.

I spent the rest of the day drawing feverously, watching the world outside from my spot near the window, until the orderly came back, pushing me up to my room.

I couldn't stop my heart from racing. I wheeled myself from my bed with my life possessions spread out on its sheets, and the window, which held my future. I stopped for the thousandth time in front of the bed, and shifted through my possessions, looking each one over one last time, before I placed them in the bag. My set of crayons, half worn down, my diary, tattered in its broken cover, some clothes, which I was given for interviews and such; and lastly, the picture of my mother in a tiny, silver locket, my most cherished possession. I passed this over my head, pushing the rest carefully into the bag and pulling the drawstring shut. Then I waited for the doctor to show.

It came near to midnight; the clouds had broken by this time, the rain fat ad heavy against the window, when he came to get me. The guards had gone to bed, and the alarms were set, and we slipped past them like shadows in the night.

He led me down into the cellar to the back door, leading to the outside. It was here that he stopped, squeezing my shoulder as the outside opened with a click and a huge man, tall enough that his hat touched the ceiling when standing, stepped through.

My mouth opened in an 'o' shape in wonder as the man greeted the doctor, then knelt down to me. "Are you ready to take a leap of faith Rowan? After this, there is now going back." I nodded nervously, looking up into the deep eyes I had seen from my window. Had this been planned for a long time?

I watched as the two men shared a quick conversation, then they turned back to the door as another man entered. This man was of normal height, still taller than the doctor. His soaking wet orange hair stuck up as he walked over. He smiled down at me, his long scar creasing. I smiled back shyly and looked to the doctor.

He just knelt down next to me and said the last words I would ever hear from him.

"Trust these men, Rowan, they will keep you safe." The next thing I knew, the feeling of drowsiness was washing over me and my body began to feel heavy beneath me. I tried to say thank you to the doctor, but I wasn't sure he had heard me as I collapsed into the tall man's arms.


	3. Chapter 3: Running Free

I don't know how long I slept, but when I finally started to wake from a blurry dream, I could hear the slight patter of rain around me. But I felt warm, something soft draped over me. I tried to focus more on the sounds around me. The rain felt distant, so it told me I was inside somewhere. A building perhaps? I heard small breaths near me to the left, like someone sleeping. But it was so disorientating in the dark. My eyelids weren't in the mood to open either. The reluctantly opened, letting in dull light.

To start with, they were unfocused and the blurry surroundings hurt to look at. But they soon started to clear up and I could make out the roof. It was cloth, so I must have been inside a tent. I let my eyes adjust to the new light before turning my head slowly over to look at the sleeping form slumped slightly in a chair beside my bed. It was the man with the orange hair. He was sleeping soundly, arms folding against his chest and legs propped up against the edge of the bed. I turned my head away to the right and my heart leapt.

The tent flap had blown open slightly and through the gap I spied the landscape beyond. Oh, how I wanted to feel the grass and the wind's breath on my skin. I WOULD feel it. There was nobody to stop m now, as long as I didn't awaken the sleeping man. I grasped the side of the bed and slowly heaved my way up into a sitting position. My body felt stiff from my slumber (I must have been out a long time).

I swung my body over until both hands grasped the right-hand side of the bed. All I needed now was my wheelchair. But my heart sank when I saw it folded and propped up near the entrance. I would have to stretch for it. I grasped the frame and leaned as far as I could, my fingers a breath away. But I overbalanced and slumped onto the floor. But I did not feel the cold embrace of the ground on my face. I looked in wonder at my left leg which had stopped my body on one knee. I felt the cold through my trouser which told me I wasn't dreaming some horrible nightmare. I felt my legs. I put one shaking hand onto my other knee and was again shocked at the response.

I didn't want to understand how. I just wanted to know if I could do more. Could I stand? I had to try. I felt the bed frame behind me and grasped it with my left hand. Slowly I pushed myself to my feet, wobbling unsteadily for a moment. But I had done it! I was standing. I felt the corners of my mouth peel upwards as a huge smile took hold.

I didn't even think as I crossed unsteadily to the tent flap and pushed it aside. I stepped out and felt the cold wind bite at my skin, just like I had imagined. I couldn't have been happier as I took one step after the other, gaining speed until I was tumbling down the hill where several tents were camped. I laughed into the wind, my chest heaving. I heard a shout from behind me, but didn't stop until finally my legs gave way under the pressure and I fell to the ground. I rolled over until I was laid watching the overcast sky, breathing heavily, but smiling none the less.

The orange-haired man appeared in my view, soon followed by the tall man.

"What were you thinking Rowan? Running off like that?" the orange one asked. For some seconds I couldn't answer for breath. But when the words finally came, they were simple.

"I ran." He looked at me in puzzlement, whilst the tall man's face remained its neutral self, not betraying the pride he felt beneath. I laughed again. "I ran. I walked. I can stand on my own two feet." I doubted anyone could have felt happier than me at this revelation. A grin spread on the orange man's face and he held out a hand.

"Well don't overdo it just yet, your legs need time." I grasped his offered hand and he pulled me up without any effort, holding onto my shoulders tightly as my legs buckled again.

They led me back up to the hill, which only seemed to take moments, though the hill was quite large. He set me down on the bed, and pulled up a chair for them both.

Once I had sat down and truly taken in my situation, I had one question that soared above the others.

"Who are you? and..."

"Where am I?" The orange man chimed in chuckling," My name is Larten Crepsley and..."

"I am Mr. Tall and this young lady, is the Cirque Du Freak."


End file.
